I’m sitting outside enjoying the nothingness of an early Friday evening. A second week of school is done and the chores and activities of the weekend have yet to begin. I think I have an hour before my husband comes home from work and I’ve got dinner figured out (left overs!). This is one of the sweet moments I treasure when I can sit and do nothing on my garden patio. My “nothing” is usually reading or writing; but nonessential in nature. The drone of the forest’s cicadas almost overpower the steady hum of the expressway traffic two blocks away. My parents call the expressway our “ocean” noise, and I eagerly accept this fantasy.

The “ocean” and the cicadas make for a noisy background but somehow it seems so quiet and still. Though the wind is minimal, the Jerusalem Artichokes  and the yet-to-open goldenrod dance gently to the music. This feels quiet and peaceful; a good kind of quiet which really is a good kind of noise.  The stillness is in my perception. Sparrows are busy between the feeder, the bird bath and their altered course as they are surprised by my intruding presence.

Perhaps it feels quiet because my brain is at rest, un-noisy. It is just me here; not Me as teacher, mom, housekeeper, bookkeeper, handyman (?!), mentor.  And I’m comfortable just being.

Husband is home now, and I wait to see how long it takes him to go inside then return outside looking for me in my solitude. Somehow the cicadas seem to be screeching……. which is also noticed by my partner. So we’ll eat dinner on the patio and relish the noisy quiet together this August Friday evening.